UC Davis' failure of leadership

ON THE UC DAVIS PEPPER SPRAYING INCIDENT

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, April 12, 2012

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2011 file photo, University of California, Davis Police Lt. John Pike uses pepper spray to move Occupy UC Davis protesters while blocking their exit from the school's quad in Davis, Calif. Nineteen students and alumni who were pepper-sprayed during the protest sued school officials Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012, claiming that campus police officers weren't trained on how to handle demonstrations properly. (AP Photo/The Enterprise, Wayne Tilcock, File) less

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2011 file photo, University of California, Davis Police Lt. John Pike uses pepper spray to move Occupy UC Davis protesters while blocking their exit from the school's quad in Davis, ... more

Photo: Wayne Tilcock, Associated Press

UC Davis' failure of leadership

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

The upshot of the independent investigation into the pepper-spraying of UC Davis protesters by campus police could not have been more obvious to anyone who saw the videotape: It was wrong.

The recommendations from the task force, chaired by former state Supreme Court Justice and law professor emeritus Cruz Reynoso, were equally obvious and cloaked in the feel-good haze of academic speak: The campus rules need to respect free speech, determine and define the difference between nonviolent and violent protest, follow the law and protect the university's educational mission. Campus police need to be trained and held accountable. Everyone needs to communicate and collaborate more.

Elite runners start the first wave of Bay to Breakers 2018San Francisco Chronicle

Coyote trots around Golden Gate parkTed Andersen, SFGATE

The 190-page report does not recommend any disciplinary action, but its description of leadership failures and breakdowns in chain of command certain calls into question the competency of people at the top levels of UC Davis.

Chancellor Linda Katehi, for example, told investigators she anticipated a "limited operation" in which police would demand the removal of the protest tents without using force. She either failed to get across her wishes or they were ignored - neither alternative speaks well of her leadership.

The report also describes an open defiance of Police Chief Annette Spicuzza's wish that officers not wear riot gear or use batons or pepper spray. Her top commanders do not recall hearing her preference for a nighttime evacuation operation. Spicuzza is now on leave.

Investigators also dismissed the officers' rationale that pepper spray was required because they were "surrounded by a hostile crowd" and had to usher suspects to a nearby police car. The report noted that officers were able to walk through the crowd.

The pepper spraying of nonthreatening protesters was cruel, unnecessary - and a stunning failure of leadership at UC Davis.